Lamp holder for tubular lamps



Feb. 17, 1948 A. A. RICHARDSON 7 2,436,266

LAMP HOLDER FOR TUBULAR LAMPS I Filed Oct. 1 1946 26 INVENTOR.

Patented Feb. 17 1948 LAMP HOLDER FOR TUBULAR LAMPS Arthur A. Richardson, East Greenwich, R. I., assignor to Harry M. Burt and Guy H. Burt, doing bus ness as The Lloyd Products Company,

Providence, R. I.

Application October 1, 1946, Serial No. 700,561

13 Claims. (01. 173328) nating device such as a fluorescent lamp by coaction with the projecting contact pins on the end thereof.

The lamp holder is characterized by its ability to swing towards and away from an end of the fluorescent lamp and by the presence of a biasing mechanism for urging the lamp holder into cou-- pling engagement with the projecting contact pins.

It is an object of the invention to provide a lamp holder of the character described, embodying a highly improved construction for swingably mounting the lamp holder and for biasing the same into engagement with the contact pins.

It is another object of the invention to provide a lamp holder of the character described in which the swingable mounting means and the biasing means comprise but a single structural part so that the number of elements of which the lamp holder is made can be materially reduced, and the cost and ease of assembly thereof bettered.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a lamp holder of the character described which can be secured on a conventional support without the use of screws so that considerable time can be saved in mounting the lamp holder.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

The invention, accordingly, consists of the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter described, and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which is shown one of the various possible embodiments of the invention.

Fig. l is a side elevational view of two pairs of lamp holders embodying the invention, -fiush -mounted on a support and cooperatively holding Fig. 6 is a side elevational view of said pair of lamp holders in one of which an end of a fluorescent lamp is disposed; and

Fig. '7 is a perspective view of a mounting bracket which comprises the principal element of this invention.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, l0, l2 denote a pair of conventional fluorescent, electric discharge lamps mounted by means of two pairs of lam?) holders I4, [6, i8, 20 on a suitable support 22 which, by way of example, comprises a housing for the ballast and wiring (notshown) customarily associated with lamps of this nature. The lamps are of the incandescent filament type and each has a pair of projecting contact pins 24 at both ends thereof which, as is usual in the lighting field, are adapted to be coupled with the lamp holders I420 to provide electric power and physical support for the lamp. All the lamp holders are of identical construction so that only one lamp holder will be described in detail.

Said lamp holder basically includes three essential elements, to wit, a body 26', means 28 to effect a detachable electric connection between the lamp contact pins 24 and the source of power, and a bracket 30 which serves both to swingably mount the body on the support and to resiliently urge the body into coupling engagement with the contact pins.

The body 26, which preferably is molded from a plastic, electrically non-conductive material, comprises an elongated standard 32 not provided with the usual integral pedestal shown, for example, in copending application Serial No. 627,367, filed November 8, 1945, for Lamp holders and owned by the same assignee as that of the present applications. The front of the standard, i. e.

the surface facing the lamp, is generally level and unbroken. However, said surface is pierced at the lamp receiving end of the pedestal by a pair of through transverse apertures 34, designed to freely pass the lamp contact pins 24. In addition, two grooves 36 are formed in the front of the standard. These grooves extend from the tip of the standard up to the apertures 34, and serve to guide the contact pins into the apertures upon insertion of a lamp. Said grooves lessen gradually in depth from the edgev of the standard to the apertures so as to earn the socket outwardly when the tips of the pins press against the bottoms of the grooves upon insertion of a lamp.

The free end of the front face of the lamp holder slopes away from the lamp (see Fig. 6) beginning at a point between the apertures 34 and the tip of the standard.

A projection or finger 38 depends from the tip of the standard and is set back from the front face thereof. The base of the finger runs smoothly into the sloped front surface of the free end of the standard and the width of the finger is less than the distance between the apertures 34. The tip of the finger is rounded towards the sides as seen in Fig. 3.

A marginal ledge 40 at the rear of the lamp holder and extending around all but the top edge thereof defines a seat which receives a back cover plate 42 of an electrically non-conductive sheet held in position by drive screws 44 forced into bores 46 opening at the rear face of the lamp holder. Said rear face also is provided with a pair of longitudinally extending elongated spaced recesses 48 to accommodate the means 28 for supplying electric power to the lamp.

Said power supplying means consists of a pair of similar contacts. Eachcontact is formed from resilient electrically conductive metallic sheet stock and includes a portion 50 adapted to freely engage the lamp contact ,pins and a portion 52 for effecting electrical connection with a source of power. For example, said portion 52 may include a flange at right angles to the longitudinal axis of'the standard and having a threaded apertureto receive a binding screw. The contact portion 50 can be of the same construction as that shown and described in detail in said copending application, Serial No. 627,367.

Thebracket 30, which, swingably secures the body 26 to the support and resiliently urges the same into coupling engagement with the contact pins, constitutes the primary feature of the present invention. Said bracket is manufactured from a single piece of self-form-maintaining resilient material. such for example as spring steel, the same preferably being in the form of sheet metal so that it can be blanked, punched and bent to shape with ease. Said bracket 38 includes a panel 54 perpendicular to and extending away from the front of the standard, the panel being parallel to and near that end of the standard (hereinafter referred to as the base) where the binding screws are disposed. Parallel flanges 56, 58 extend upward y from the opposite lateral edges ofthe panel. These flanges run to the rear of the standard where they are integrally connected to inturned coplanar legs 60, 62 whose free ends arein juxtaposition. The panel 54, legs 60, 62 and rear portions of the flanges 55, 58 cooperate to define a rectan ular aperture in which the standard is loosely received.

The bracket and standard have cooperating means to swingabl secure said standard to the bracket, such means preferably being in the shape of mating projections and openings on the standard and bracket. As shown herein said cooperating means consists of two bosses 64, 56 molded on opposite sides of the standard near the base, said bosses being elongated parallel to the longitudinal axis of the standard. Corresponding openings 68, 10 are provided in the bracket fianges B, 53. Inasmuch as the bosses are elongated, the openings 68, 10 do not have a mating shape but are wider a 4 adjacent the lower ends of the bosses which, as will be appreciated, are in registry transversely of the standard.

The foregoing construction enables me to secure a relative rotatable movement between the bracket and standard intermediate two positions defined by abutment of the bosses against the front and back edges of the openings 68, Ill. It is pointed out that, if desired, the same effect may be obtained without the use of the elongated bosses. For instance, if the bosses 64, 66 were surfaces of revolution and exactly matched in contour by the openings 68, ill the bracket would still function satisfactorily, and in such case the oscillation of the standard would be limited in one position by abutment of the rear face of the standard adjacent its base against the legs 60, 62 and in the other position by abutment of the rear face of the standard against an extension of the legs 60, 62 now to be described.

The bracket also includes an element or c1ements integral therewith to bear against some part of the standard and urge the latter into coupling engagement with the contact pins. Such element could, for example, bear against the front of the standard above the axis of rotation, or the back of the standard below the axis of rotation. If the standard includes backwardly or forwardly extending projections such as a conventional pedestal, said element or elements could bear against these projections in the proper direction to exert the required biasing influence. As shown herein, said elements are in the form of extensions 14, 16, one integrally connected to the lower edge of each of the legs 60, 62. The width of said extensions is substantially equal to the length of the legs and the same extend downwardly toward the tip of the standard, being unconnected to the legs except as already mentioned. The extensions may be bent inwardly, as indicated and they bear against the back of the standard acting as leaf springs to urge the standard to its extreme forward position wherein its base abuts against the legs 69, 62.

The bracket also includes means for attachment to a support. This may merely consist of an aperture in the panel 54 which is either threaded or has tines disposed so as to mesh with a thread, and in such case the bracket is conventionally held in place by a screw passing through an aperture 18 in the support and threaded into the aperture in the bracket. However, pursuant to an ancillary feature of my invention, the bracket attaching means is so formed that the bracket can be fastened to the support 22 without any screws, simply by pushing the bracket into place.

Said attaching means comprises a spring lock adapted to be thrust through the opening 12 in the support and thereupon be automatically secured thereto. The lock 80 includes a tongue 82 struck from the panel 54 and bent to extend downwardly. The tongue is retroverted approximately midway of its length to impart a V- shape thereto, and the tip 84 of the tongue is of reduced width providing shoulders 86. The width of the remainder of the tongue is slightly less than the diameter of the opening 18 in the support and the tongue is so shaped that the distance from the tip to the base of the tongue when the bracket is unmounted is at least almost equal to or greater than the diameter of said aperture. The distance from the shoulders 86 to the panel 54 is approximately equal to the thickness of the support 22. r

To mount the bracket the return bend 88' of the V-shaped tongue is introduced into the top of the aperture 18 and the bracket pushed downwardly. This causes the diverging branches of the tongue to bear against the sides of the aperture' and. as the tip and base of the tongue are approached. will bend said branches together. As soon as the shoulders 86 pass through the aperture, the branches of tongue willspring apart and said shoulders will be locked against the under surface of the support.

The spring lock 80 will hold down the front of the bracket but will allow the bracket to rock. To prevent this, additional means desirably i included to hold down the back of the bracket and provide one or more reaction points for maintaining the bracket stationary when the standard 32 is swung away from the end of a fluorescent lamp. Said additional means includes a pair of arms 99, 92 depending from the rear edges of the flanges 56, 5B. Said arms each have an outwardly diverging tang 94 struck therefrom in such a fashion that the upper and side edges of the tang are free and the lower edge; of the tang (the edge furthest the panel 54) is integrally connected to the arm. The support 22 has a conventional opening through which the standard 32 is adapted to be inserted, this opening beingbut slightly wider than the pe"- estal. 'When the pedestal is thrust down through said opening the tangs 94 will be bent toward the pedestal but as soon as the lower ends of the said tangs clear the pedestal, the tangs will spring out and serve to hold the rear end of the bracket in place. The free ends of the tangs are spaced from the panel 54 a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the support. It

"will thus be seen that the bracket is held to the support at three points so as to furnish a steady rest.

In the fabrication of the bracket 34] the same procedure is used as is conventionally employed in making parts from sheet metal resilient stock. Thus the blank for the bracket may be softened by suitable heat treatment before the cutting or bending operations and aftersuch operations have been performed the bracket can, by an other heat treatment, be restored to the desired degree of resiliency which enables the leaf sprin extensions 14, l5, the spring look so and the spring tangs 94 to function properly.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a lamp holder which achieves the several objects of this herein described or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A lamp holder of the character described for mounting on a support a lamp having at least one contact pin at each end thereof, said lamp holder comprising a bod having at least one transverse aperture to receive a pin at one end of the lamp, said aperture extending inwardly of the body from the face thereof, an electrical contact carried by saidv body and disposed so as to de'ta'chably engage a pin in said aperture, and a bracket including means to mount said bracket on the support, means to pivotally "6 secure the body on the bracket and means integral with the bracket to resiliently bias the body about the pivotal mounting means in a direction to urge the contact into engagement with a pin.

2. A lamp holder of the character described for mounting on a support a lamp having at least one contact pin at each end thereof, said lamp holder comprising an elongated body adapted to extend through an opening in the support, said body having at least one transverse aperture to receive a pin at one end of the lamp, said aperture extending inwardly of the body from the face thereof, an electrical contact carried by said body and disposed so as to detachably engage a pin in said aperture, and a bracket, said bracket including means to swingably mount the body on the support and to resiliently urge the body in such direction that the contact will engage a pin. 3. A lamp holder of the character described for mounting on a support a lamp having at least one contact pm at each end thereof, said lamp holder comprisinga body having at least one transverse aperture to receive a pin at one end of the lamp, said aperture extending inwardly of the body from a face thereof, an electrical contact carried by said body and disposed so as to detachably engage a pin in said aperture, and a bracket for swingably mounting the body on the support and resiliently urging the body in a direction such that the contact will engage a pin, said bracket including spring clips for securing the bracket to the support so that said bracket can be mounted on the support without the use of screws. 4. A lamp holder of the character described for mounting on a support a lamp having at least one contact pin at each end thereof, said lamp a'bracket for swingably mounting the body on the support and resiliently urging the body in such direction that the contact will engage a pin, said bracket including a portion encircling the body, another portion integral with such encircling portion and adapted to be rigidly secured to the support, and still another portion also integral with said encircling portion and bearing resiliently against the body to urge the body in the desired direction.

5; A lamp holder of the character described for mounting on a support a lamp having at least one contact pin at each end thereof, said lamp holder comprising a body having at least one transverse aperture to receive a pin at one end of the lamp, said aperture extending inwardly of the body from a face thereof, an electrical contact carried by said body and disposed so as to detachably engage a pin in said aperture, and a bracket, said bracket being made from a single piece-of resilient sheet metal and including a portion adapted to be rigidly secured to the support, another portion rotatably secured to the body, and still another portion bearing against the body and resiliently urging the body in a direction such as to cause the contact to engage a pin.

6. A lamp holder of the character described for mounting on a support a lamp having at least one contact pin at each end thereof, said lamp holder comprising a body member having at least one transverse aperture to receive a pin at one end of the lamp, said aperture extending inwardly of the body member from a face thereof, an electrical contact carried by said body member and disposed so as to detachably engage a pin in said aperture, and a bracket member, said members having aligned projections and cooperating openings for swingably securing said members together, said bracket including means integral therewith for resiliently urging the body in a direction such that the contact will engage a pm.

7. A lamp holder of the character described for mounting on a support a lamp having at least one contact pin at each end thereof, said lamp holder comprising a body having at least one transverse aperture to receive a pin at one end of the lamp, said aperture extending inwardly of the body from a face thereof, an electrical contact carried by said body and disposed so as to detachably engage a pin in said aperture, and a bracket, said body having a pair of aligned projections and said bracket having a mating pair of aligned openings for swingably securing the body to the bracket, said bracket including means intogral therewith for urging the body in a direction such that the contact engages a pin.

8. A lamp holder of the character described for mounting on a support a lamp having at least one'contact pin at each end thereof, said lamp holder comprising a body having at least one transverse aperture to receive a pin at one end of the lamp, said aperture extending inwardly of the body from a face thereof, an electrical contact carried by said body and disposed so as to detachably engage a pin in said aperture, and a bracket having a portion disposed at and extending forwardly from the front face of the body, said portion including means for rigidly securing the bracket to the support, said bracket being made from resilient material and including means integral therewith to secure the bracket to the body in a manner such as to permit swingable movement of the-body relative to the support, said bracket also including means integral therewith for resiliently biasing said body in a direction such that the contact engages a pin.

9. A lamp holder of the character described for mounting on a support a lamp having at least one contact pin at each end thereof, said lamp holder comprising a body having at least one transverse aperture to receive a pin at one end of the lamp, said aperture extending inwardly of the body from a face thereof, an electrical contact carried by said body and disposed so as to detachably engage a pin in said aperture, and a bracket of resilient sheet metal stock for swingably securing said body to the support, said bracket having integral inclined projections struck therefrom for anchoring the bracket to the support without screws.

I 10. A lamp holder of the character described for mounting on a support a lamp having at least one contact pin at each end thereof. said lamp holder comprising a body having at least one transverse aperture to receive a pin at one end of the lamp, said aperture extending inwardly of the body from a face thereof, an electrical contact carried by said body and disposed so as to detachably engage a pin in said aperture, and a bracket of resilient sheet metal stock for swingably securing said body to the support, said bracket having integral inclined projections struck therefrom for anchoring the bracket to the support at several points without screws.

11. A lamp holder of the character described for mounting on a support a lamp having at least one contact pin at each end thereof, said lamp holder comprising a body having at least one transverse aperture to receive a pin at one end of the lamp, said aperture extending inwardly of the body from a facethereof, an electrical contact carried by said body and disposed so as to detachably engage a pin in said aperture, and a bracket of resilient sheet metal stock including portions at the front, rear and sides of the body, said bracket having a spring element which bears against the body and resiliently urges the body in such direction that the contact will engage a pin, said bracket comprising integral means to swingably secure the body to the bracket and integral means to rigidly secure the bracket to the support.

12. A lamp holder of the character described for mounting on a support a lamp having at least one contact pin at each end thereof, said lamp holder comprising a body having at least one transverse aperture to receive a pin at one end of the lamp, said aperture extending inwardly of the body from a face thereof, an electrical contact carried by said body and disposed so as to detachably engage a pin in said aperture, and a bracket for swingably mounting the body on the support and resiliently urging the body in a direction such that the contact will engage a pin, said bracket including a plurality of elements of resilient material extending from the bracket at an angle thereto whereby said elements are adapted to be bent toward the body by parts of the support during mounting of the bracket, said elements being of such a length and so proportioned that when the bracket is mounted the elements will clear said parts of the support so as to spring away from the body and at such time bear against other parts of the support to anchor the bracket in place.

13. A lamp holder of the character described for mounting on a support a lamp having at least one contact pin at each end thereof, said lamp holder comprising a body having at least one transverse aperture to receive a pin at one end of the lamp, said aperture extending inwardly of the body from a face thereof, an electrical contact carried by said body and disposed so as to detachably engage a pin in said aperture, and a bracket of resilient sheetsmetal stock adapted to be rigidly mounted on the support, said bracket including integral means to secure the body thereto for movement relative to the bracket and support in such manner that the aperture moves toward and away from a contact pin, said bracket also including integral means to resiliently bias the body in such direction that the contact will engage a pin. I

ARTHUR A. RICHARDSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,283,454 Osterloo May 19. 1942 2,296,114 Mueller et a1. Sept. 15. 1942 2,403,968 Dansereau July 16, 1946 2,221,402 Kurtzon Nov. 12, 1940 

